Women's Water Polo Tops Hartwick to Gain CWPA Finals Berth

For the third straight year, the Princeton women's water polo team will play for the CWPA's berth in the NCAA tournament.

The No. 9 Tigers gained a spot in Sunday's 1:30 p.m. final with a 10-7 win over No. 16 Hartwick, improving to 2-0 against the Hawks this season. No. 12 Indiana, which drew the top seed in the CWPA Championship despite being ranked three spots lower than Princeton in the national poll, stands in the way of a third straight NCAA berth for the Tigers. (Live stats here)

Princeton last faced Indiana a season ago at the Bucknell Invitational in a 4-2 Hoosiers win. Indiana has won the last four against Princeton with the Tigers' last win in the series coming in 2007.

Though the Tigers never trailed against the Hawks, Hartwick had the game tied as late as 3-3 before Princeton scored twice in the final three minutes of the second half to open a 5-3 lead. The last goal of the half came from Molly McBee with just a second on the clock.

Hartwick was again within a goal at 5-4 following an exclusion less than two minutes into the third quarter, but Princeton scored the next three to gain its largest lead at 8-4. Hartwick scored 26 seconds apart late in the third quarter to pull within 8-6, but the Hawks got no closer.